Happy Halloween, Little Monkeys!
by bamboo72498
Summary: Fourth in the 'Monkeys' series. Halloween. The quints are three.


** A/N: Happy Halloween guys! Well here's a new one for y'all. Now: i wrote all of this tonight while passing out candy to trick-or-treaters and chaperoning my nieces' Halloween Party. So any grammar or spelling problems are all my fault and i'm sorry!**

**Disclamor: Not mine; just borrow them sometimes**

**Enjoy!**

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><p>"Alright, everyone look at daddy," Kate said flipping on the stairwell lights and moving to stand next to her husband who had his phone ready to take pictures.<p>

All five kids were standing on the stairs in their Halloween costumes, and Kate was trying to get a nice picture of them; but trying to get five three year-olds to look in the same spot and smile at the same time was much harder than it looked

At the sound of their mom's direction, Miyana and Finn turned and look at their parents and smiled, even staying there for more than a second; but both girls loved having their picture taken, so it was no surprise they were more than game to pose for the camera.

Danielle and Liam looked up next; they weren't as still as their sisters, but at least they were looking in the direction of the camera. Austin was still of in LaLa Land, not paying any attention.

"Austin! Daddy!" Rick said from behind his phone trying to get his son's attention, even going so far as to use the nick name they had given Austin for being the biggest 'daddy's boy' Kate and Rick had ever seen; as much as Miyana is a mommy's girl, Austin is a daddy's boy.

Finally all five kids were looking and smiling, something that should be taken as a sign from god and Rick knew he had about three seconds to get the picture or everything would be ruined.

"Ok, one, two, three," Castle counted down and snapped three shots on his phone. They all came out great: everyone looking forward and smiling. It was a Halloween miracle.

"Did they come out alright?" Kate asked once all the kids had been allowed to move off the stairs.

"See for yourself," Castle says, handing his phone over to Kate.

She scrolls through the recent pictures: Finn's dance class, Liam's first Taekwondo class with his friend Zach, Pre-School Halloween party pictures, until finally she finds the three pictures of the kids on the stairs. They turned out fantastic! She didn't know how he did it, but somehow Castle caught the perfect picture.

"Wow, these are really good," she says, handing the phone back to him. She stands on tip-toe, as her flat shoes make their height difference really known, and kisses his lips. Just once, like saying 'thank you.'

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This year, Rick and Kate had let all five quintuplets pick out their Halloween costumes with no input from their parents. At first Kate was a little worried that her kids were going to pick something totally out of the box, but luckily that didn't happen.

Danielle took the longest to pick. She wanted to be ten different things and couldn't decide what to be. But finally about four days before Halloween she finally picked what she wanted to be: a fairy, but not just _any_ fairy, she wanted to be Tinker Bell. So Castle took her shopping, and luckily found a costume in her size. So here they were on the big day: Danielle in her green fairy dress, with tights underneath, as it had snowed three days before, and the temperature was still pretty cold, hair pulled back into a bun and covered in glitter, much to the dismay of her father, who didn't want to be vacuuming up glitter for the next month.

Liam chose to be his favorite superhero for Halloween. No, not Superman or Ironman, another very powerful hero. One who stops the wrong-doers and saves the playground from evil all before naptime. Faster than a bold of lightening, kinder than ten mommies combined; it's a bird! It's a plane! It's Super Grover! Liam had latched onto the Sesame Street character and over and over again pretends to be him; so his parents weren't surprised when they asked the three year old what he wanted to be, and he did hesitate in saying he wanted to be Super Grover. So Rick went online and found the costume: the knight helmet, cape, the whole nine yards. When the box for his costume came, Liam was over the moon; he even, somehow, convinced his dad to let him wear it early. Castle didn't want him too, but finally compromised and let the kid wear the cape. So for the last week and a half before Halloween, Liam Castle ran around wearing a super hero cape and shouting "Super Grover!" for all to hear.

Miyana made her costume made from things around the house. She wanted to be Kiki from Kiki's Delivery Service; a movie she has fallen in love with in the last few months. She had a dark purple dress from over the summer, which was close enough to the actual character for it to count in the eyes of the three year old, red Mary Jane style shoes, and a giant red bow tied in her hair. Kate had even found a stuffed black cat for Mia to carry around with her. Mia had won 'most original' in her pre-school's costume contest earlier that day and was sent home with a blue ribbon and a bag of candy.

Austin was easy. He knew what he wanted and found the costume right away: a fire fighter. The boy loves all things to do with firemen and fire trucks; it's probably his favorite thing. On Halloween Kate had dressed him in a dark blue FDNY long sleeve shirt that she had found by happenstance when she went out shopping a few days ago, black sweat pants, the long red and yellow coat, his black snow boots and of course the signature red hat. With his piercing blue eyes, Austin looks absolutely adorable.

Wither her auburn hair and hazel-green eyes, Finn looked like a dead ringer for who she was trying to be for Halloween. Here's a hint: "In an old house in Paris that was covered with vines…" That's right! Finn chose to be Madeline; her favorite story book character. At three years old, Finn was learning to read, and had almost memorized the classic story; though her parents think she's just repeating the words they say when they read it every night. The blue dress, Mary Jane shoes, and the yellow hat perched atop her head; Finn was all smiles the day of Halloween when she got to put on her costume at school and walk in the Halloween parade, watching all of the grown-ups at her school recognized who she was supposed to be.

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The remnants of a quick pizza dinner lay cold on the stove as the urge to change into costumes and go out Trick-or-Treating outweighed the want for seconds on dinner. Once everyone was ready to go, and pictures had been taken, Rick and Kate led their costume clad children outside into the cold October night.

"Stop at the end of the driveway, Mia and Liam!" Kate calls to the toddlers standing excited at the edge of the sidewalk, ready to go get candy. Kate stands near the open garage door waiting for Castle to pull out their wagon. They were hoping that Finn would ride in it, let it help conserve some of her energy.

But were surprised when Finn refused.

"Are you sure you can walk all the way around the neighborhood?" Castle asks his youngest daughter.

"I'm sure," Finn says, puffing out her chest.

Rick and Kate share a look, silently discussing the issue. Finally Rick pulls the wagon out and remote closes the garage door as he proceeds down the driveway. As Finn pretests her dad's actions, he explains that he's bringing it for them_ all_ to use if the need too.

A moment later, Finn gasps as her hat flies off in a gust of wind. "No!" she shouts. They watch as the hat lands in the street and tumbles across the cul-de-sac, before a fellow trick-or-treater grabs it.

"Thank you," Kate says, running up to the kid and retrieving the hat from him. She walks back to her family, laughing to herself at how much like Madeline that scene was. "Hold onto to your hat, okay Nemo?" Kate asks, plopping it back onto the kids' head.

"I will," she nods, following her dad and siblings as they walk to their first house of the night.

"Knock on the door," Rick instructs his son as the kids stand on the stoop, him one step below them. "Remember to say 'trick or treat' when the door opens," he reminds them in the three seconds between when Austin had knocked and the door opens.

"Trick or treat!" the quintuplets chime when their neighbor's door opens. The twelve year old inside smiles when she sees who it is.

"Wow! Look at your costumes," she remarks, dropping two piece of candy into each of the kids' pumpkin shaped buckets.

"We got to wear our costumes at school, Sophie!" Miyana calls to her friend as she pushes past her brother to get candy.

"Austin, Danielle, move out of the way," Rick says, stepping aside to let his kids step off the stoop.

"You did?" Sophie remarks, setting down the candy bowl on a table behind her. "That's awesome!"

Sophie herself is wearing a Halloween costume: a very well executed Tenth Doctor from Dr. Who. She grabs a coat and a pillowcase to use for candy and starts to step outside to join the Castle family, before stopping to call to her parents. "Mama! Pa! I'm leaving!"

From somewhere deep in the house, a voice tells her to wait, and a minute later, Sophie's mother, Angela, rushes into the room. She smiles at the kids, exchanging quick hellos with their father.

"Don't you guys look great!" she smiles. "Have fun tonight," she says to both the quints and her daughter who steps onto the stop with the little ones. "Do you have a flashlight?

"We will, mama," Sophie replies. "Yes," she says, lighting up the flashlight and shining it onto the open door. "Be back later," she says, walking down the stairs, the kids behind her.

"Have fun!" Angela calls, closing the door behind her as she moves back inside.

"Where's Benny?" Austin asks about Sophie's older brother as he takes the girl's hand and walks with her to the next house.

"He's out with his friends," Sophie replies, looking down at the little boy.

"Oh," Austin sighs, sad his friend couldn't come with them to get candy.

"You'll probably see him around tonight; they only just left like ten minutes before you guys came to my house.

"Yeah?" Austin asks, perking up.

"Sure," she nods, leading Austin and his siblings up to the front door of the next house. She rings the doorbell, and when it opens chimes in with "trick or treat!" along with all the other kids in their group.

"Mommy! Look at all my candy!" Danielle shouts, running down the driveway, holding open her candy bag at her mom.

"I see! That's a lot. I may have to take some of that," Kate jokes, reaching into Dani's bag.

"No! Mommy!" Dani shouts again, pulling her bag away as her mom reaches in.

Kate laughs, holding out a hand for her daughter and walking with her to the next house. Three of the kids, and Sophie, have run ahead, and the others have to play catch up.

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The rest of the night goes quite the same: stopping at every house with their lights on (they had to teach the little kids that houses with no lights on didn't have candy), getting candy, running to show mom and dad, only to turn right around and repeat with the next house. They wove up and down nearly every street in their neighborhood.

All of the kids scamper up the steps leading to front doors, even Finn. She keeps up with her siblings and the other kids as if she wasn't using a walker. It does get in the way a bit, but that's a problem they face with Nemo's walker; a constant in their current lives.

A few streets in, they found Sophie's brother, Benjamin, who was with a group of his friends. The eighth graders were very nice and went to a few houses with the quintuplets, upon request form Austin and Liam.

"My Tio was an Army man," Liam remarks to Benny's friend Carter as they switch houses.

"Oh yeah? That's cool," Carter responds, very dismissive of the young boy, who is trying to seem grown-up and cool with the bigger kid, who doesn't understand why he is spending his Halloween with a bunch of preschoolers.

At the end of the street, the kids split ways: Benjamin and his friends go one way, Sophie and the littles go the other.

They only make it two more blocks before the kids start getting done. All five of them, even Finn, have taken a turn in the wagon, and as they head home: Liam and Danielle are sitting in the wagon, Miyana is being carried piggy back style by Sophie, and Finn is being carried by her mom, her walker taking up what would have been her seat in the wagon.

"Come on, Austin," Castle says, turning around to wait for his son again. The boy had been falling behind for the last part of their adventure; he's tired, and cold, and wants to go home. Austin catches up to them, whining about being cold.

"I know; we're almost home, buddy," Rick puts a hand on his back, pushing him forward.

When they reach their cul-de-sac, nearly all the porch lights have turned off. Sophie parts with the Castle's , waving goodbye to the kids with promises to come and play the next day. Rick hits the garage door opener and is pulling the heavy wagon up their driveway.

"Stay here baby," Kate tell Finn, sitting her on the garage steps as she unfolds Finn's walker, setting it inside before lifting the little girl to it, telling her and her brother and sister to take off their coats and boots before going up to their rooms.

"So do you want boys or girls?" Castle asks Kate over the closing garage door as they carry Liam and Danielle inside. They help the kids shed their jackets and boots, letting them fall in the pile with the others.

"I'll take the boys," Kate says, picking Liam up off the mud room bench, leaving Danielle and Castle behind.

"Did I miss something?" Castle asks his daughter, scooping her into his arms.

Danielle giggles as the residual glitter from her costume sprinkles onto her dad's forearm. Castle groans, finally realizing why his wife decided to handle their sons' bath

"Come on, let's go get ready for bed," Castle says, heading up the stairs.

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Finally, forty minutes later, all five kids have been bathed, rid of body glitter, put into pajamas and into bed. Rick and Kate collapse onto the couch, completely drained.

"This was fun," Kate sighs, sinking into Castle's side, curling her foot under her butt. "I'm glad their finally at that age where they actualy understand what going on, ya know?"

"Mmhmm," Rick hums, running a hand up and down Kate's arm absentmindedly.

"Hey," she whispers, looking up at her husband. He looks down, meeting her eyes, and kisses her.

"I love you," he whispers, pulling back.

"I love you too," she says. She kisses him again, this one deeper than the first. She stops after a moment, "Do we still have candy to hand out?"

"I'll just leave the bowl outside with a note saying take what they want," Castle says, leaning in to kiss her again.

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><p><strong>AN:Before I go, i just wanted to say an update on Double Play will be up soon. I promise!**

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